The Beauty of Doing Good Deeds

It is officially Wednesday, March 16, 2011. We have all survived the Ides of March. Congratulations!

My day was pretty OK. Got a lot done.

I told a bunch of childhood stories to a captive and appreciative audience prodded on with comments like "go on", "you were saying" and "OK, finish your story." It was great to have a new audience especially since she reacted so well to my stories. She laughed and grimaced right on cue. That made me feel pretty good. In fact, I think I amused her so well that when it came to playing Foos Ball, we just played a very non-competitive version. She usually takes great delight in beating me. I stink at Foos Ball. I'm very good at Bumper Pool, though.

I also did a few good deeds along the way today. I knew I was doing one good deed around noon today, but I didn't expect to have it snowball into my own little bit of Heaven.

It started out when I gave a fellow student a ride to school and listened as she told me about her first day of observing classes at a local high school. She's studying to become an English teacher. She was very talkative, and I enjoyed hearing about all the different classes that she observed. She observed English, Math, and Science classes. It was fun to share her enthusiasm.

After I dropped my fellow student off at school, I stopped at a flower shop before my group therapy session and found a bunch of wallet cards with inspirational sayings geared towards women. I bought a few, put them in envelopes, and had my group mates each pick an envelope. Everyone was pleased. They were even more pleased when they discovered that not all the cards were the same. Each woman got a different card and felt as though each card was perfectly suited to what they were going through in the moment. I was hoping it would turn out that way. I sat and shuffled the envelopes during the beginning of group thinking about what each person was saying and hoping that my surprise would give them not only a smile, but also something that they can refer to when they're feeling low, troubled, or doubtful. It's hard to move confidently forward after years of being beaten down be it physically or psychologically. I'll have to dig in my bag and pick on for me, too, I suppose. I wonder which one I'll get.

After group I stopped at Walmart (My Secret Shame - so many issues about shopping at Walmart, but continue to shop there, I do) to see if I could find a Peace Sign backpack like the one I have for school because my Sunday School co-worker told me that her daughter loves Peace Signs; and that, she would pay me back if I found one. Unfortunately, I didn't find a backpack with Peace Signs on it, but I did find a little purse that only cost three dollars; I bought it.

I also figured out that Big Girl and Little One will be at our house on St. Patrick's Day, so I looked for something green for them to wear. I was pretty successful. I found matching sweatsuits in gray, pink and green and added matching long-sleeved shirts with two kitties on the front and "Made You Smile" written on them; the long sleeves have hearts on them, too. I never thought I'd be a matchy-matchy kinda person, but the prices were right; and well, what the heck. Maybe it's rather rare to find outfits in the right sizes that fit my budget and the occasion. Might as well grab the opportunity and see what happens. I also found a Tinker Belle shirt for Little One and a Tiana outfit for Big Girl. Everything was on the Clearance racks, of course. I added four pairs of pants that only cost a dollar each; two dark green pairs, a turquoise pair for Little One and a hot pink pair for Big Girl. As I was leaving, I saw a couple of green outfits that were only six dollars each, so naturally I bought those, too. The green outfits don't match, but they go together nicely. They have short sleeves, so maybe they'll be for Easter. I don't know. What I do know is that both GL and I hold green as our favorite color, so might as well get something green for the girls to wear.

I did get myself a treat during all of this; a "How to Train Your Dragon", 3-D backpack for only ten dollars. I couldn't resist. Besides, everything that I bought of the three girls fit inside of it, so I didn't have to use any plastic bags. Ta Da! I don't exactly know what I'll do with that backpack. Maybe I'll pack it away and save it as an investment. Maybe I'll use it for school to lighten my load some days. Maybe I'll just play with it. Maybe I'll keep treasures in it. Maybe I'll keep the "How to Train Your Dragon" blanket in it. The possibilities are endless, and I can't stop smiling.

When I finally got home, I discovered that my new house key doesn't work. Figures. I was the one who bought the locks for the side and front doors and had them re-keyed; so that, they would both open with the same key. As far as I know everyone else's keys work. I had to chuckle while I walked back to my car to get my phone; so that, I could call BB and wake him up.

I also discovered that the recycling hadn't been put on the curb, so I had to get BB up, not only to let me in the house, but to bring down our recycling. It's getting to the point that if we don't take it out once a week that it is overflowing by week two. We share our bins with our downstairs neighbors, and I'm happy to report that this is a committed, recycling household. Unfortunately, even though BB and I tried to be very, very quiet; we managed to wake up our neighbors's baby. Oops.

So that's been my day. I had no idea that I would end up doing so many good deeds when I woke up this morning. It sure felt good. It's a great example of taking life by the reigns and living it the way I want to. With all the serious news I've been keeping up with lately, I was getting mighty down. Today was a fine example of continuing to live a good life no matter what. I'm going to count this as my contribution to balance in the universe.

It's going to take a lot of good people doing good deeds to balance out all the silliness that is going on. It's one thing to have leaders wreak havoc on our world. It's so very humbling when Mother Nature rears up and makes her power known. I'm not very unique in my realizations or observations about how to live life; in fact, I'm really rather slow. I'm starting to think this is a part of the aging process, and I'm really digging it. It all kind of reminds me of a couple of things my parents used to tell me:

1. If you go looking for shit, you'll probably find it.
2. If I had known at thirty what I know at fifty, I would've mellowed out a lot.

The only thing that I've really learned through my life is that when I am focused on helping others, I am a happier person. So here's to spreading some joy and thinking of others; be they human or any of our other co-inhabitants on this sphere we call home. Here's to remembering we're all in this together. Here's to preserving a happy and healthy habitat.